Halls Creek Articles

The "Corkscrew" Buck

35 mph winds, with gusts near 50 mph almost made the hunt for the "Corkscrew" buck impossible. It was a cold, damp day in Central Missouri and we were hunting at one of my favorite places in North America. Halls Creek has great whitetail hunting and has a bunch of trophy whitetails.

It was early December, and the second rut was in full swing. The day before we had a hunter miss the opportunity to harvest the "Corkscrew" buck. The "Corkscrew" was so named because of a twisted deformed rack. We estimated the corkscrew to go in the 150" range and to be about five years old.

We had seen the "Corkscrew" the day before while videoing another archery hunt. I was behind the camera on that hunt and we harvested the "basher buck". (Both hunts can be seen on the 2004 Halls Creek Hunt Video.)

Time in the Field Sets Us Up

We felt fairly confident we could see the corkscrew again if we positioned our stand location on his entry trail. We had to move down the clover field about 250 yards from where we had hunted the day before. On this day I was hunting with a friend running the camera. I was full of anticipation, even though the wind was so treacherous. Our stand location was under a large sprawling black oak that was dropping acorns like crazy. There was a bedding area located on the ridge behind us and our stands were a staging area where deer were picking up acorns before entering a clover field.

The Wind Tests Our Commitment

We did not get into the stand until late morning because of torrential rains. We felt the deer would be bedded and not moving much in the heavy rains. Once it quite we rushed to the area around 9am. We did not see any deer movement and at noon we took a 30 minute break to eat lunch and to get a reprieve from the bitter cold wind.

On our way back to the stand we spooked deer out of the clover field. That made me concerned we may have ruined our chances. However, as fate would have it we began seeing some bucks and young does coming to the field and eating black oak acorns under a nearby tree.

Almost Out of Time

It was getting late and we had not seen any mature bucks. We had been in the stand for almost a total of 6 hours when my camera man caught a glimpse of deer movement. I looked closely with my binoculars and there was a 130" 3 year old 9 pointer coming right down the trail we were on. He wasn't the deer we were looking for but, it was encouraging to see a mature buck up on his feet. Second later I noticed a flash of a white antler in the trees. I carefully looked through my binoculars and couldn't believe it... "Corkscrew" was coming right towards my stand.

Too Many Deer

For the last several minutes I had been watching the large 9 pointer that had since entered the field and now the "Corkscrew" buck. While I was watching them I failed to notice how many does and young bucks had congregated around the black oak. There were at least 8 deer with in 25 yards of my stand. "Corkscrew's" path was going to bring him right to the rest of the deer. As he entered the field, I drew my bow and some of the deer caught my movement and it made "Corkscrew" jump back in the woods.

I now did not have a shot. My heart was beating hard and I thought my hunt was over. Then for some reason the "Corkscrew" calmed down and ended up presenting a 20 yard broadside shot. My arrow flew straight and found its mark.

"Corkscrew" had 15 score able points and ended up scoring a whopping 163" gross and weighed over 250 lbs. It was the most wind I had ever hunted in and it was worth it.

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